Yucca: the next federal disaster in waiting

There is a cautionary tale for Nevadans and the rest of the country in the continuing budget shortfalls at the U.S. Department of Energy for its Yucca Mountain nuclear-waste storage project.

Margaret Chu, head of the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, told utility regulators in Las Vegas this week the Yucca project's budget for 2003 is $460 million, about $130 million less than sought by the Bush administration.

It's the ninth year in a row the Energy Department's budget has been cut.

Part of the reason is the on-going effort by Nevada Sen. Harry Reid to slow the Yucca Mountain nuclear-waste repository while state officials fight it. It's a sound strategy, and one we support. Chu admitted the budget shortfall will make it more difficult for the Energy Department to submit a "high quality" application to the Nuclear Energy Commission for the Yucca project.

With that history, it seems evident the nuclear storage program will remain controversial, will always face skeptics in Congress and will continue to struggle to operate with less than an adequate budget.

We have seen all too tragically in the Columbia shuttle deaths the potential for disaster when a highly technical federal program attempts to fulfill its mission on a budget that skimps here and stretches there. A space shuttle designed for 100 missions disintegrated on its 28th.

At Yucca Mountain, the Energy Department is designing a high-level nuclear storage facility never before attempted. At $58 billion, it will be the largest public-works project in the nation. It is supposed to survive 10,000 years. Midway through the feasibility phase, the basic concept was altered.

At stake is the health of generations of Southern Nevadans.

We're not suggesting the Yucca storage project be fully funded. We're suggesting the application be rejected on the grounds specified by Nevada.

It's the possibility the repository will go forward with both basic flaws and inadequate funding that truly frightens us.